Beastie Boys Reveal Sad News For Fans

Michael “Mike D” Diamond revealed that he and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz will never make new music again as the Beastie Boys after the death of fellow original band member Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died from cancer in 2012.

Diamond stated, “We have not been able to tour since MCA, Adam Yauch, died. We can’t make new music.”

Diamond and Horovitz have spent the past several days testifying in a Manhattan federal court against Monster Energy Drink in a copyright infringement lawsuit. The Beastie Boys are suing Monster for $1 million for using their songs without permission for a video called Ruckus in the Rockies. The energy drink company also used several Beastie Boys’ songs in videos to promote a snowboarding event.

According to Diamond, if the beverage company had asked (they didn’t) for permission to use the songs, they would have been told “absolutely no.” Diamond testified, “We do not let our music get used in commercials for commercial products.”

The Beastie Boys are known for not selling out. They refused to let Arnold Schwarzenegger use their song Sabotage in his 2014 movie of the same name, despite what would have been a very lucrative deal for Diamond and Horovitz. The action film turned out to be a big time box office flop. Diamond said in his testimony, “It felt like too much of an endorsement of the movie.”

The group’s no tolerance policy towards endorsement and licensing deals stems from Yauch’s wishes that the band never use his likeness or music to hock products. In fact, his will states, “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.”

Monster thinks that it should pay less than the million dollars that the group is suing for.